The Picturesque Wye Tour

Just Wordsworth, Turner and You…

The beauties of the Wye Valley were discovered for the first time at the close of the eighteenth century when it became fashionable to take a boat tour down the Wye Valley, to view its romantic sites and picturesque landscape.

‘Tourists’ dined at defined locations, took walks to particular viewpoints and visited specific romantic ruins, making the Wye Tour one of the first ‘package holidays’.

Year of the Sea

Events

Birthplace of British Tourism

In 1745 a rector from Ross-on-Wye, Dr John Egerton, was the first to build a boat to take his guests on excursions down the Wye. By the late eighteenth century there were at least eight boats operating on a commercial basis, in response to growing demand from tourists. Much of the demand was a direct result of the book, the first tour guide to be published in Britain in 1782, entitled ‘Observations on the River Wye and Several Parts of South Wales’ by William Gilpin.

If you have never navigated the Wye, you have seen nothing (William Gilpin 1782).

Today the Wye Valley is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) recognised as one of the nation’s most treasured landscapes.

It is thought that the views from Whitestone and Cleddon inspired Wordsworth to write ‘Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’:

Five years have passed; five summers, with the lengthOf five long winters and again I hearThese waters, rolling from their mountain-springsWith a soft inland murmur. Once againDo I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,That on a wild secluded scene impressThoughts of more deep seclusion, and connectThe landscape with the quiet of the sky.

A delicious gem of a stone built 19th century cottage sleeping 3 near Usk. It has been completely refurbished to a luxury standard and features a 5ft bed and whirlpool bath, large TV and woodburner. Pet friendly

Wye Tour Stops

Activities on the Wye

Art Galleries

There were two types of landscape painters in the eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain; topographical artists (photographers today) and picturesque artists who produced romantic and sublime paintings.